


Starlight

by MagicMaker



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, LadyNoir - Freeform, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 05:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6040390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicMaker/pseuds/MagicMaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When there are no akumas the night of Valentine's Day, Chat decides to plan a little surprise for his lady.</p><p>A birthday fic for Sach216.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being WAY longer than I expected it to be and I spent WAY too long on the akuma attack in the beginning, but I'm still happy with how it turned out.
> 
> I apologize for any cheesiness that may occur.
> 
> Sach, I hope you enjoy! :)

A lot of people thought that Marinette didn’t enjoy holidays. Over the course of the weeks leading up to an event in someone’s calendar, it was inevitable that the girl would become moody, lethargic, and spacey, often ditching plans she made with people last minute for reasons such as ‘I overslept’, ‘I forgot’, and, Alya’s personal favorite, ‘I was too busy spying on Adrien’.  
Once the holiday actually rolled around, Mari would become practically unreachable, not answering phone calls or texts, or disappearing from celebrations for hours at a time with no adequate explanation. As one could imagine, this behavior often led to angry best friends and disapproving parents.  
Of course, the reality of it was that no matter how much joy and happiness holidays brought, they always left emotions running high. This made Paris a ripe picking ground for Hawkmoth and his army of akumas,  
Naturally, this meant that Ladybug had to be on guard twenty-four seven.  
“Behind you!” Chat Noir shouted. Ladybug dove to the ground just in time to avoid a blast that would have hit her squarely in the back. Instead, the blue ball of light flew across the street to hit an unsuspecting pedestrian, who promptly sat down and began bawling. This was the fate that much of Paris was suffering, crying their eyes out as though there was no hope left in the world, as the villain who called himself Sorrow ran rampant. His goal, as he had already announced many times, was to make others suffer the pain he felt in his own heart, after it had been broken by ‘her’, whoever ‘her’ was. His hair, skin, and clothes were composed entirely of different shades of blue, and there were fake tears painted down his face.  
All in all, a fairly generic akuma compared to what the duo had seen in the past. And yet Chat Noir and Ladybug had been fighting him for at least an hour and still had no clue where the akuma might be.  
Chat sprinted past her resting place in the middle of the road, using his staff to block a beam that would have hit a young girl in the face. She promptly turned around and ran in the other direction, screaming, which was probably for the best.  
Ladybug jumped to her feet, turning to face her enemy. It was an unusually sunny day for Paris in February, and the light kept getting in her eyes. It shone on Sorrow’s akumatized form, reflecting off of something shiny at the base of his neck…  
“Chat!” Ladybug shouted, drawing his attention. She pointed at her discovery, “The akuma’s in the necklace!”  
The pendant was a blue jewel suspended on a silver chain. It was the only part of his attire that stood out, and therefore almost certainly the object the akuma was inhabiting.  
“Got it!” Chat called back, sprinting towards Sorrow. He retaliated with a series of calculated blue blasts, leaving Chat stuck on the defensive, spinning his staff to block the incoming projectiles. Ladybug flipped herself off the ground, grabbing her yoyo to do the same. Unfortunately, this meant that neither of them could get close to the akuma, and the projectiles were flying willy nilly around the street.  
“Time for a little extra help,” Ladybug muttered, diving for cover behind a bench.  
“Lucky Charm!” she shouted, tossing her yoyo into the air. She held her hands out to catch the object that fell from the sky.  
Unfortunately, it was much too big to hold.  
Ladybug yelped and flinched away as a huge chalkboard on wheels fell to the ground in front of her. It landed perfectly, without so much as a wobble, and stood at attention.  
“What on Earth?” Ladybug wondered out loud, peering at what her Lucky Charm had created. It expected her to defeat Sorrow with this thing?  
Luckily, her Ladybug vision made it simple for her. The chalkboard flashed, then Sorrow, leaving her no room for error.  
“Well, here goes nothing,” she muttered, using the board for cover as she wheeled it out toward Chat. When she reached him, she let it come to a stop in front of them, where it acted as a barricade between them and the akuma.  
“What the-” Chat stopped spinning his staff and stared at the chalkboard in disbelief. “I agree that we should teach him a lesson, my lady, but not like this!”  
“Just give me a hand pushing it, kitty,” she replied, although she secretly agreed.  
They both began walking backwards, eyes on their target. The blasts had stopped coming now, and they could hear Sorrow’s voice, even though they couldn’t see him.  
“Wh-wh-where did you go?” he cried, his speech interrupted by sobs, “Come back!”  
“One,” Ladybug muttered, moving into position like a runner about to start a race.  
“Are you going to leave me like she did?” His tone was getting dangerously close to angry now.  
“Two.” She felt her partner get into position beside her.  
“I’ll start firing again if you don’t come out!”  
“Three!” Ladybug shouted, and the duo started to run. When they were three steps away from the board, their feet left the ground, and planted themselves on the green surface with the force of a truck.  
It wouldn’t have worked if not for Ladybug’s Lucky Charm. The chalkboard practically flew down the street, hitting Sorrow with enough force to knock him to the ground.  
She heard him cry out, but they didn’t wait around to see if he was okay. They sprinted towards him, sliding to a stop when they reached his crumpled form.  
Ladybug reached down, yanking the necklace off of his neck. The chain broke with a snapping noise, and she dropped it to the ground, crushing it beneath her foot. As expected, the black butterfly flew out of the object, flying upward as if attempting to escape. Ladybug opened her yoyo, not about to let that happen.  
“You’ve done enough harm, little akuma,” she said, catching it with practiced skill, “I free you from evil!”  
She spun her yoyo around in the air, before finally releasing it into the sky. It emerged from her yoyo white and purified, and flew off to who-knows-where.  
Ladybug approached the chalkboard slowly, shooting Chat Noir a cautionary glance. He shrugged.  
She touched her fingers to its surface. “Uh, Miraculous Ladybug?”  
Her tone lacked confidence, but nevertheless, it worked. The chalkboard dissolved into pink sparks that shot into the sky, spreading across Paris. The people that had been left crying on the street stood up, looking around them with an expression of bewilderment. More importantly, Sorrow’s akumatized form disappeared, leaving behind a brown-haired man in his mid-twenties lying on the ground.  
Ladybug turned to her partner with a radiant smile, holding out her hand in a fist. Chat returned the fist bump with a grin.  
“Mission accomplished. Again.” she had to add, twisting her face into a grimace. “That’s the third akuma today, and it’s not even dinner yet.”  
Chat Noir opened his mouth to reply when a groan sounded behind them. They turned to see the man they’d just saved sitting on the pavement, looking like the epitome of confusion.  
“Can somebody tell me what’s going-” He was cut off by the sound of a tinny phone ringtone. He fished around in his pocket, finally pulling out an old-fashioned flip phone. He opened it and pressed it to his ear. “Hello?”  
His face brightened immediately. “Gabby! Hi, um...oh, oh really? You want to talk...ye-yeah, I can be there in ten minutes! Okay, see you there!”  
The second the call ended he took off, jumping off the ground and sprinting towards a Metro entrance.  
“Well, looks like he’s gonna be okay,” Chat chuckled, turning back to face her. Ladybug was glad to see it -- being possessed by an akuma can be difficult to recover from.  
Despite herself, Ladybug felt a yawn coming on. It had been a long day.  
“Three akumas today and it’s not even dinner yet,” she sighed, leaning back to stretch, “Even so, we should probably patrol the city tonight to make sure no one else has gotten their heart broken.”  
Chat was nodding enthusiastically, a goofy grin on his face.  
“Yes, of course! Tonight!”  
Ladybug gave him a strange look. “Uh huh. Meet you at the Eiffel Tower at sunset?”  
“Wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“All clear, my lady!” Chat announced, as he rolled to a stop in front of her.  
Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Your show-off-iness must have scared them away.”  
They were on the roof of a small hotel that was almost too close to her house for comfort. The sun had set long ago, but the streets were still full of people celebrating the special day with their significant others. Honestly, it just made her feel worse about the fact that she hadn't been able to work up the courage to give Adrien the cupcakes she’d made him.  
Luckily, it seemed like Chat was right. No more broken-hearted akumas seemed to be terrorizing the city tonight.  
“Hey, don't blame me if my purrfect acrobatic skills are scaring all the villains away,” Chat smirked, “Besides, that just means we have the rest of the night off.”  
“True,” she smiled, “Did you have any plans?”  
“Actually,” Chat said, suddenly shy, “If it's all right with you, I wanted to ask if you'd maybe, well, like to go get a bite to eat?”  
Ladybug thought it over. They didn't have a time limit before their kwamis ran out of power, and she hardly ever got to spend time with her partner when there wasn't a rampaging akuma on the loose.  
Besides, her parents thought she was asleep.  
“Alright kitty,” she grinned, “What did you have in mind?” 

“Wow,” Ladybug breathed.  
They were standing on a pier on the banks of the river Seine, and in front of them was a boat completely decked out in fairy lights. The railings along the outside of it were strung with them, emitting a soft pink glow. Spread out on the boat’s deck was a checkered picnic blanket with a wicker basket and several fancy-looking pillows sitting on it, like in cliche romance movies. There was also two wine glasses, and what looked like a bottle of wine (although she really hoped it wasn't, Chat knew full well that both of them were under the legal drinking age). Soft violin music was emanating from somewhere. There was also a small covered area at the front of the boat that Ladybug assumed one would steer the boat from.  
There was a large plank of wood that had one end on the pier and the other on the boat’s surface so they could climb on. Standing next to it on the pier about thirty feet away was a man in his fifties, wearing a captain’s hat and waving at them cheerily.  
“There you are!” he shouted to them, apparently not keen on moving closer, “It's all set up and ready for Paris’ two greatest heroes!”  
“What do you think, my lady?” Chat asked nervously. Ladybug turned to look at him. He was biting his lips and twirling his tail between his hands, looking for all the world like he wanted to disappear. This wasn't the Chat that was always ready with a witty quip or pun to fire at her, the relentless smooth-talker. This was something else -- open, like he was baring his soul to her. Ladybug felt butterflies in her stomach, like when she was thinking about Adrien, only this was somehow deeper.  
Ladybug couldn't help herself. She stood up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Chat’s cheek.  
“It's perfect, mon minou.” She heard his sharp intake of breath, and leaned back to see him staring at her, mouth slightly open.  
She grinned. “Let's go, kitty. We don't want to keep him waiting.” She threaded her arm through his.  
Chat shook the dopey look off his face and returned her grin. “As you wish, my lady.”

Apparently, the boat captain’s name was Luca. Luca was from Italy and had four children and a beautiful wife. He also liked to talk a lot.  
He spoke near-perfect French with a slight accent that supported his claim. Once he was certain that the two of them were situated on their picnic blanket, he removed the plank, setting it inside the small structure that housed the wheel (as Ladybug had suspected).  
“We can go for as long as you two want!” Luca grinned at them, “Only the best for Paris’ greatest heroes! And you two just give me a shout if you need anything!”  
“Thank you, Luca!” Chat called back, as the man turned to start the engine. Almost as an afterthought, he shut the door behind him, presumably to give them some privacy.  
“He seems nice,” Ladybug giggled. The two of them were sitting on opposite sides of the blanket, legs sprawled out in front of them, “How did you two meet?”  
Chat laughed nervously, “Oh you know, I needed a boat for tonight, and his just happened to be available for rent.”  
Ladybug gazed at the scene around them, from the lights to the boat to the glittering reflections of the stars on the riverbank. Finally, she looked back at him, her gaze softening, “Did you really do all of this for me?”  
They both felt the boat start moving with a slight jolt, then they were slowly cruising down the Seine, empty except for a few other boats filled with lovers who'd apparently had the same idea.  
Not that they were lovers, Ladybug reminded herself. They were partners, and friends. Good ones.  
Chat’s awkwardness disappeared as he looked into her eyes.  
“Of course,” he purred, giving her a small smile, “I wanted to make today special for you.”  
“Besides,” he laughed, as he reached for the maybe-wine bottle, “I think the both of us deserve a break after saving Paris all day.”  
Ladybug felt the butterflies return to her stomach, only this time they were accompanied by a warmth, a warmth that spread from her head to the tip of her toes.  
Chat opened the bottle before noticing Ladybug’s suspicious glances.  
“Relax!” he laughed, “It's grape juice.”  
After they both had full glasses, the two of them toasted.  
“To another year of cleaning up Hawkmoth’s messes,” Chat joked.  
Ladybug laughed. “To releasing more butterflies into the wilderness.”  
“To falling off buildings!”  
“To last minute saves!”  
“To more terrible puns!”  
“Oh no, I won't be toasting to that one,” Ladybug groaned.  
They laughed for a while, before finding themselves watching Paris go by.  
“To another year of us being partners,” Ladybug said softly, staring up at the stars.  
“I'll toast to that,” Ladybug could almost hear the smile in his voice.  
They found themselves at a lull in the conversation. Chat suddenly gasped dramatically, setting his glass down on the blanket and turning to open the basket. Ladybug grabbed the glass before it could spill.  
“I almost forgot!” Chat’s back was to her as he rummaged through the picnic basket. He finally emerged, holding two plastic containers. He reached back in and pulled out more, again and again until they had a veritable feast in front of them.  
“Tada!” He pulled the lid off of one of the containers, revealing a multitude of macaroons in many different colors. He opened another: fruit tarts,  
Ladybug felt her face grow warm as she recognized her parent’s handiwork in the treats. Chat had gotten the food from her family's bakery! She might have been in the same building as her partner’s secret identity. Oh god, she might have seen him. How had they been so close, and missed each other entirely?  
Chat continued opening the containers, unfazed by her shock. Cream puffs, chocolate eclairs, even meringues.  
“My, my, did you make all of these yourself, kitty?” Ladybug teased, trying to hide her nerves.  
“Oh, God no,” Chat replied, “I figured I would spare us the food poisoning, my lady. These are from the finest bakery in Paris!”  
Yes, yes they are, Ladybug thought to herself with a smile. She reached for a macaroon, deciding on a chocolate one and biting into it.  
“Mmm, delicious.” She looked around her at everything her partner had done for her. “I'll have to find some way to repay you, Chat.”  
“Don't worry, my lady,” Chat said with a coy smile, “You already have.”  
Ladybug felt her heart beat a little faster in her chest, and she had to turn her attention to the macaroons to avoid asking herself why.

They both stuffed their faces with treats, which wasn't very difficult after their patrol. Jumping around Paris’ rooftops was hungry work.  
Once the bottle was drained and the containers were nearing empty, they sat looking at the stars.  
As the night drifted on, Ladybug found her gaze moving to Chat, his overgrown hair, his sparkling green eyes, the slight smile on his face as he gazed up at the night sky…  
Against her better judgement, she moved closer to Chat, snuggling next to him and putting her head on his shoulder.  
She heard his sharp little gasp again, and felt his eyes on her. Her heart was beating at light speed, but she held her ground, focusing very hard on the stars above her.  
“L-ladybug,” Chat began, the nervousness plain in his voice, “Th-there was something I meant to tell y-you, last Valentine’s Day, but I never...got around to it, what with Dark Cupid running around, or flying around, I should say-”  
“What is it, Chat?” Ladybug looked up at him with eyes full of stars.  
“M-my lady,” Chat tried. His breath caught in his throat. He began again, “My lady...j-je t'aime.”  
Ladybug felt her heart clench. She stared at his face full of fear, fear of being rejected, fear of being laughed at.  
A tiny voice in her head said “What about Adrien?”  
She ignored it.  
She put a hand on his cheek, then pressed her lips to his.  
She'd only expected the kiss to last a few seconds, but Chat surprised her. He put a hand on her waist, leaning into her lips. For a moment they seemed inseparable, intertwined, like they were both one person.  
When they finally pulled away, Chat stared at her with eyes that were full of shock, confusion, and awe.  
“I love you too, kitty.”


End file.
